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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/30057312">Take A Chance</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/berkeley_shiksa_feminista/pseuds/berkeley_shiksa_feminista'>berkeley_shiksa_feminista</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Diary of a Future President (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Jada is a significant character and is besties with Liam cause why not, M/M, and she and Monyca are a pairing because I like crack ships, no beta we die like men, she is also afro latina because why not</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 16:48:36</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,926</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/30057312</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/berkeley_shiksa_feminista/pseuds/berkeley_shiksa_feminista</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>I’m spectacularly bad at summaries, and, in my defense, I’m doing this at a quarter to three in the morning with a headache, sleep deprivation, and a head cold that could potentially turn out to be COVID and kill me, so cut me some slack here—</p><p>Liam and Jada have been best friends forever. And every weekend on Saturday morning, they meet at the same coffeehouse and have a danish (which is mentioned quite a bit in this, and I’m starting to think I should give it it’s own tag) and talk about life. One day, the barista they usually have working the counter has changed shifts, leaving Bobby Cañero-Reed in her place. And Liam is a disaster. Because we need a bit more of Liam being throughly disorganized, because he’s actually pretty well-adjusted in the show and I think that’s a problem.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Bobby Cañero-Reed/Liam Carter, Liam Carter &amp; Jada</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Take A Chance</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hiya! This is my first fic ever, so please be kind! I didn’t originally plan to post anything today, but I’ve been wanting to get at least one work down so that I can get the ball rolling on my other WIPs, so I looked through my fic ideas in my notes app and found this little gem I started a while ago. I’ve been working for a couple hours on the rest of it, since most of it was actually already written, but I’ve got a terrible cold and I haven’t slept in a while, so it does get progressively shittier and rushed towards the end, but I happen to like it a reasonable amount, and I hope you do too! You can find me on tumblr at w-the-fury-of-gods-own-thunder.tumblr.com</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“I know, Jada, I know! I'm just running a little late! I only woke up like-" He paused to look at his watch. "- an hour later than I usually do."</p><p>“An hour, Li! We were supposed to meet here a half hour ago!" His friend's voice rung tinny and indignant through the phone speaker. So, maybe he admitted he could have done better. But in his defense, it's not like he could have predicted sleeping in. Couldn’t Jada cut him a little slack? </p><p>“Jeez, Jay, what’s wrong? You’ve got somewhere to be?”</p><p>"I'm not trying to be pushy, really. And you know I don’t have anywhere to be—Saturday morning coffee is for us. I’m just annoyed that this was the one day you decided to relax and not adhere to a schedule."</p><p>He frowned, quickening his pace. The quaint little coffee shop was in sight, and Liam had a feeling that he was about to get skinned if he didn't hurry his ass up.</p><p>"What's so special about today?" He stood at the crosswalk, the shop just on the other side of the road.</p><p>"Monique is off her usual shift." The little white man flashed, and he began to hustle across.</p><p>"Oka-a-a-a-y... Why's that important?" He was within a few feet of the door. He grasped the handle…</p><p>"There's someone very nice in her place." He stepped inside, and froze.</p><p>At the counter, working the register and taking orders, was a barista. A male barista. Monique was not male, Liam observed astutely.</p><p>This male barista was just about the cutest thing Liam had ever seen. He was hunched over a notepad, dressed in the coffee shop’s uniform, black short sleeve and cream-colored apron and all. He looked just a bit shorter than Liam, with dark curls and olive skin, and when he looked up, he had a kind, lopsided smile on his face as he conversed with a customer. </p><p>Liam spotted a figure in his peripheral, and moved slowly to sit down in the window nook that Jada had taken, gaze still primarily on the barista.</p><p>"Do I know you, or do I know you?" Jada chuckled, and he finally let his gaze fall to her. She smiled brightly, almost smugly. Liam considered throttling her on the spot. "Why isn't Monique here?" He managed dumbly.</p><p>"There's a cute guy behind that register,” He could almost hear the additional comment about him being exactly his type. Jada was about as subtle as a sledgehammer. “...and that's what you're wondering?"</p><p>He glared at her for a few good seconds, but deflated as he noticed the merit in her words. Still, with a tired sort of stubbornness, he offered:</p><p>"He's okay, I guess-"</p><p>"You and I both know that that boy is way more than 'okay'." She snuck a glance over at the front of the shop, and her eyes glittered as she hummed her approval. "Seriously, Li, he’s supercute. I'd actually try to talk to him myself if I wasn't ninety-nine percent sure he's gayer than a double rainbow in kitten heels."</p><p>Disregarding the fact that Jada had just used an expression worded in a way Liam would only ever expect from his own grandmother, he was almost sure his eyes were bulging out of his head.</p><p>"W-What?" He spluttered.</p><p>Jada appeared unimpressed. "I know you and I are only half the deal, but you're seriously telling me that you don't get a vibe?"</p><p>He furrowed his eyebrows, allowing himself another furtive look at the barista boy.</p><p>"I mean, I guess…”</p><p>"Please stop being ridiculous."</p><p>"I’m just saying what I honestly think, Jay. He’s not that interesting." He reached over to take a bite out of the danish Jada had already ordered, but she smacked his hand away.</p><p>"You are not stealing my food just so you can avoid talking to Cute Barista Guy. If you’re telling me you seriously aren’t interested, you’re lying through your teeth. Go and order.”</p><p>He decided to concede the first point, but he wasn’t putting his pride at risk without a fight. "But Jay-"</p><p>"No." She said firmly and glared. Liam, knowing he had been defeated, sighed. Closing his eyes, he counted down from ten in an ill-fated attempt to persuade himself to get up and join the line. It took exactly two more countdowns to actually get himself to move.</p><p>"And get me my usual! I forgot it when I got the danish!" His friend called after him.</p><p>Even as he stood in the line leading up to the counter, he contemplated how out of place he would look if he were to scuttle out of line and back to the corner table. Deciding it was too much of a gamble, he turned to face the menu boards, and he started. There was only one person left between him and Cute Barista Guy, and besides Jada's overly complicated usual, he hadn't decided what to buy.</p><p>The rather large man in front of him moved out to the rest of the shop to wait for his order, and Liam stepped forward nervously. Cute Barista Guy hadn't seen him yet, his head bent over the notepad in his hands, and Liam adjusted himself as surreptitiously as he could. Then Barista Boy raised his head, and Liam forgot all intent to get through this exchange cleanly and calmly.</p><p>He was even more handsome up close, with long lashes and deep brown eyes, and a nose that was just a little wider and just a bit more endearingly crooked than he had been able to make out from across the shop. Liam’s gaze flickered down to his chest, and found a little name tag there that read,</p><p>“Bobby<br/>
Pronouns he/him”</p><p>"Hey! What can I get for you?" Bobby smiled with the rehearsed grace of a counter employee. </p><p>"Uh," Liam started eloquently. "Black coffee for me, please." </p><p>He cursed himself. It was the only answer he could think of, despite his utter hatred for black coffee. Jada wouldn't let him live it down, she knew he despised it that much.</p><p>Bobby wrinkled his nose adorably, sending Liam's heart scrambling and causing his mouth to nearly pull into a smile. </p><p>"Are you sure? Not even, like, some creamer? Or milk?" He asked disbelievingly.</p><p>Liam had made a bad decision, but this time he had to stick with it.</p><p>“Black’s fine.” Bobby nodded, jotting that down on his notepad.</p><p>"And your friend?" He gestured toward where Jada sat in the corner, and she grinned at Liam like a cheshire cat. For a moment, he considered changing her order out of sheer vengeance. He quickly dismissed the option, though, and sighed.</p><p>"You got your notepad ready?" He asked, attempting to warn him by raising a meaningful eyebrow. It worked, because Bobby held it up in indication, along with the pencil in his right hand.</p><p>Liam took a deep breath, rattling off Jada's beloved but unnecessarily specific order.</p><p>"Latte, double espresso, Italian blend. Light on the froth, heavy on the cinnamon, and with a shot of raspberry."</p><p>"Got it!" Bobby said. "Can I get a name?"</p><p>Liam fumbled, eventually murmuring his first and last name for the barista and shuffling in place, desperate for some fresh, non-cute-boy-invaded air. </p><p>"Alright. Your order will be ready in a minute, Liam. Thanks and come again!" </p><p>He made his way back over to Jada, sitting down in his seat by the window. He took a moment to enjoy the feel of the mid-morning sun on his face before turning reluctantly to his friend across from him.</p><p>“Well, did you do it?” </p><p>“You scare me; I wouldn’t be sitting here if I hadn’t. In fact, I would’ve booked it out of here by now. Which is what I want to do, but again, you’re scary.”</p><p>Her face split into a huge grin, and her eyes sparkled. She slapped her hand on the table, surprising him. “Yeah, I am!”</p><p>She said it very loudly, and several people in the coffee shop turned to stare at her, including Bobby.</p><p>Liam dropped his head into his hands.</p><p>“Jada, normal-people volume, not Dominican volume, remember? We’ve discussed this.”</p><p>When he looked up again, she had the grace to look a little affronted, but a smirk still twisted her lips and she looked at him intently.</p><p>“I’ll be as loud as I please, Carter, because I’m on my way to becoming chief of the matchmaker’s society.”</p><p>“Could you say that any louder?”</p><p>“Oh please,” She waved a hand dismissively. “He’s already stopped paying attention to me.” </p><p>And indeed, he had, which made Liam feel a little put out. Not that he needed Bobby hearing in on Jada spouting her delusions of grandeur, but a small part of him had hoped that Bobby would pay a little more attention to him than was strictly necessary.</p><p>“What do you want me to do, Jada? What’s your angle? Because I know you—You probably want me to have this guy’s number by the time we get out of here, even if it takes all day.”</p><p>She hummed. “True,” She conceded. But her expression turned thoughtful and when she looked up at him again, she looked surprisingly earnest. “Look, Liam, I just want you to be happy. After your parents shipped you off to your grandma’s, you’ve had a rough time of it. You deserve something like this—Some crazy get-together story, a rom-com plot. You should be able to date people and be a young and stuff. And maybe your parents didn’t agree with how you wanted to do that, but does it matter? You think he’s cute, so just do it. Take a chance.”</p><p>He mulled that over for a minute. When it came time to speak, he couldn’t stop the scared little frown from creeping onto his face.</p><p>“Jada, the last time I took a chance was when I came out to my parents—And that’s the whole reason I’m here. What if—”</p><p>“No what-ifs, Li,” She put her hand over his and looked at him steadily. “Do it. I have a good feeling about this.”</p><p>Silence.</p><p>“Could I have that danish first?”</p><p>She raised her eyebrows.</p><p>“I’m not trying to stall anymore,” He chuckled, his chest starting to feel less restricted and his thoughts a little less heavy. “But I’m not good at this stuff. I need a breather, ok?”</p><p>Her face softened and she nodded. “Ok.”</p><p>____________________________________</p><p>After a solid twenty minutes of nibbling at his (previously Jada’s) danish and attempting to settle his stomach, he finally had the courage to say to Jada “I think I’ll go up there in a minute. It looks like his shift’s ending soon.”</p><p>He was talking with another employee (who, Liam took note, had appeared to have caught Jada’s eye) and was fiddling with the strap at his neck, as if readying to take the apron off.</p><p>Jada nodded, for the most part paying attention to him, before turning back to watch Bobby chat with the other barista.</p><p>A few more minutes passed; Bobby disappeared into the back of the shop, and Jada had made her way over to the counter to introduce herself to the female barista during a break in between customers. She had ambled back to the table with a goofy smile on her face, and a small notepad paper stuffed in her fist, and had informed him simply “And that’s how you shoot your shot, Carter.”</p><p>Later, Bobby finally emerged from the employee-only part of the building, now dressed in light wash jeans, white converse sneakers, and a grey sweatshirt. He had a black backpack thrown over his shoulder, and Liam felt a little thrill of excitement when he spotted a small rainbow pin tacked to the front pocket. </p><p>Liam did a final check, smoothing down his shirt and rubbing his tongue along his teeth to make sure there wasn’t leftover danish still stuck in them before standing slowly and seizing his messenger bag. Jada gave him an encouraging smile, and with renewed confidence, he walked tentatively toward Bobby the Barista.</p><p>He didn’t recognize he was being approached at first, but Liam’s sneakers scuffed and he flinched just as Bobby’s head whipped around.</p><p>“Hey.” Liam started uncertainly, the courage he had only just felt beginning to melt away as his heart started racing and his hands began to feel sticky with sweat.</p><p>“Oh, hi,” Bobby replied, not unkindly. “Do you need something? My shift just ended but I think I could help depending on what it is.”</p><p>“Oh, no, nothing with the food.” Bobby’s eyebrows furrowed and Liam knew that if he didn’t get it out soon, he would lose his nerve. </p><p>Take a chance.</p><p>“I know this is a little weird, and you don’t have to say anything really… But I was wondering if you’d like to go out sometime? Like to a movie, or lunch?”</p><p>Bobby’s eyes widened in surprise, and then crinkled in mirth as he began laughing quietly.</p><p>“What?” Liam lost a bit of hope, but he could read people well, and Bobby didn’t seem to be laughing maliciously, so a small confused smile spread over his face as he waited for an answer as to why Bobby found this whole situation so amusing.</p><p>“Oh, God!” The barista gaped in surprise suddenly. Something in Liam’s expression must have tipped him off to how confused and discouraged he was starting to feel, because he backtracked sheepishly and put a hand to the back of his neck.</p><p>“Damn it, I’m not good at these things.” He muttered to himself, and for the first time, Liam realized that Bobby was nervous.</p><p>Then, something light and playful and happy lit up his heart and if it wasn’t for the increased levels of anxiety he was feeling, he would have smiled with pure, unadulterated glee.</p><p>“Are you okay?” Liam asked after he shook himself, because yeah, realizing he had the power to make this guy flustered was pretty nice, but he wasn’t a complete jerk. </p><p>“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” Bobby managed to stutter out, before sighing in defeat and momentarily flapping his hands, as if trying to shake the nervous energy from his system. He looked up at Liam, finally, and something seemed to settle in him as he drew himself up and responded. “I’d like that. Gimme your phone.”</p><p>“Excuse me?”</p><p>“Oh, god, sorry,” Bobby grimaced. “So that I can put my number in there. I don’t wanna steal your phone.”</p><p>That brought a smile to Liam’s face, and he felt like he was able to breath again. He took his phone from his back pocket, and felt oddly calm even as their hands brushed when he handed over the device. “No problem.”</p><p>Bobby quickly typed his number into the New Message section, sending a simple text reading “Testing testing” to his own phone, then naming the contact. When he handed Liam’s phone back, he was listed as Bobby Cañero-Reed.</p><p>“I like the eñe in your name.” Liam said at random, then inwardly cringed.</p><p>“Oh,” Bobby’s face flushed. “Thanks. I think that’s the first I’ve heard of someone liking it, or knowing what it is. We have a printed out schedule with our usual shifts in the staff room, and for whatever reason people can’t seem to print my name right.”</p><p>“That sucks, man.” Liam wrinkled his nose in sympathy. Bobby looked at him then and his eyes glinted. </p><p>“Yeah,” Bobby held his gaze. “It does.”</p><p>The silence wasn’t uncomfortable, and they couldn’t seem to look away from each other. An anticipating, almost delirious feeling exploded in Liam’s chest, and he tried to catch his breath. He almost felt okay when Jada came striding over to where they stood, effectively breaking the spell.</p><p>He couldn’t be too mad though. If she hadn’t done so, he probably could have stood looking at Bobby’s eyes—deep brown, the color of rich soil—all day.</p><p>“Oh, Liam, I’m sorry but we have to go! You’ve got some chores to do, right?” She tilted her head.</p><p>“No,” Liam narrowed his eyes. “No, I don’t think I do, Jada.”</p><p>“Oh, well, either way you’re going to have to help me with something. I’ve got a date with this really cute girl later, her name is Monica, I think. With an ‘i’.”</p><p>From the other side of the shop, the female barista whom Bobby had been talking to shouted indignantly “With a y, Peralta!”</p><p>“Whatever!” Jada shouted back, though she smiled giddily, then turned back to Bobby and Liam and gave each of them a long look. “And I’m sure this cute girl probably needs her friend’s help too, so we shouldn’t keep them too long, yeah?”</p><p>Liam sighed. She had a point. Plus, he knew that as much of this was about her supposed date, she was also trying to help him bow out gracefully before he did anything stupid or started to overthink, and he couldn’t really blame her for that. So he turned to Bobby, inclined his head, and said “Call me?”</p><p>Bobby smiled, and this time, it wasn’t the insincere customer-service smile that dripped with false sweetness. This time it was a little shy and it reached his eyes, crinkling them at the corners and somehow making them brighter. “Definitely.”</p><p>Jada had said earlier that she had a good feeling about this. And as he walked home with her, suitably distracted by playing with all the little heart emojis he could potentially put next to Bobby’s name in his phone, Liam had to admit that he did too.</p>
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